Belfast-based Andor Technology says talks about a potential management buy-out at the company are at an “advanced stage”.

The company said the discussions were over a possible offer for the entire issued share capital of the company at a price of 73p per share in cash.

In a short statement, the high performance digital camera maker said there was no certainty that the process would lead to a formal offer being made.

It added the committee of independent directors have appointed Landsbanki Securities (UK) to advise on any potential offer.

A price of 73p per share would represent a significant premium on the current share price, but the gap was closing fast yesterday.

Shares began the day trading at 56p. However, they rose to 67.5p by yesterday afternoon following the issuing of the company statement.

This figure is up on the price of 46p in May, but still well down on the 12-month high of 112.5p.

A price of 73p per share would value the one-time Queen’s University spin-out company at just over £20m.

Andor, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market, has its headquarters at Springvale Business Park in west Belfast and employs 190 staff, 120 of them in Belfast.

It is understood that the buy-out team is being led by the chief executive, Conor Walsh, but he declined to make any comment when contacted by the Belfast Telegraph.

In May, the company posted a 22% increase in pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of March. At the time, Mr Walsh said the building blocks for “sustainable and profitable growth” had been put in place.”

Last year Andor opened sales offices at Beijing in China and Osaka in Japan.

The company said that investments in the Asia Pacific region had produced 34% sales growth while sales were up by 23% in the original equipment manufacturer sector in the US.